Not a Verizon customer, but have your eye on a Moto Z smartphone? You're in luck: the unlocked, non-"Droid" versions of the phone are now available for pre-order.

The Moto Z Play starts at $450 for a 32GB version, and goes up to $700 for the 64GB capacity. Both are GSM phones, which means you'll be able to use them on T-Mobile and AT&T, as well as discount operators like Cricket Wireless, Tracfone, and Net10.

The standout feature of the Moto Z line is its accessories. Called Moto Mods, they snap on to the back of the phone with strong magnets. Best Buy is throwing in a free Moto Mod Portable Charger from Incipio with pre-orders of the 32GB version. It can boost your phone's battery life by 20 percent.

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Other Mods include a projector and a JBL speaker. For geeks, the most exciting mod is the one that can be anything: the $129.99 Developers Kit, which lets you attach a Raspberry Pi HAT module to the phone.

The Moto Z Play handset itself is sleek and thin on the outside, almost indistinguishable from the more expensive Z Force Droid both in terms of size and design. But it packs a Snapdragon 625 processor on the inside, a big step down from the higher-end Snapdragon 820 that powers the Verizon-exclusive Z Force Droid.

Rounding out the specs are a 5.5" AMOLED touch screen, a 16MP rear-facing camera that supports 1080p video recording, a microSD card slot and a USB Type-C connector. And, mercifully for those who want to charge their phone and listen to their tunes at the same time, the Z Play includes a headset jack, something missing on its more expensive cousin.

About the Author

As a hardware analyst, Tom tests and reviews laptops, peripherals, and much more at PC Labs in New York City. He previously covered the consumer tech beat as a news reporter for PCMag in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, where he rode in several self-driving cars and witnessed the rise and fall of many startups. Before that, he worked for PCMag's s... See Full Bio

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